Rain puts the brakes on I-5 work

Wet weather stalls construction, but project still ahead of schedule

Updated 10:00 pm, Monday, August 20, 2007

Construction work that snarled traffic on Interstate 5 in Seattle remains ahead of schedule, but rain will govern whether it will be done Saturday, a state project official said.

Crews replaced all 34 expansion joints in the freeway segment between Spokane Street and Interstate 90, covering the work area with tents over the weekend, said Russ East, assistant regional administrator for the state Department of Transportation.

Deputy project director Matt Preedy said 70 percent of paving for the $15.5-million job is complete and the state still assumes the work will be completed Saturday.

"We think so," he said when asked if the work will finish then, and East said the work is ahead of the original 19-day schedule.

But paving was halted early Monday as rainfall continued and work was not expected to resume until Tuesday.

"With this weather report, it's too risky for him to go out (Monday) night," East said.

With the loss of nearly two days of paving work, the state and the contractor, Concrete Barrier Inc., again revised the traffic-lane configuration through the work. Two lanes will remain this week, as officials backed away Monday from plans to reopen parts of five lanes before the week is out.

Keeping three lanes closed longer will expedite paving once that begins again. East said the work schedule had to be adjusted, particularly after the paving shutdown Monday.

In another change, officials decided to close the northbound Spokane Street onramp to I-5 overnight, for safety reasons and because of high vehicle speeds through it. It will close from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly until the work ends.

If weather "doesn't dry out (Tuesday) then we start pushing the Saturday (completion) date," Preedy said. "The weather over the next 24 hours is really going to play a big factor in whether we can make Saturday or not."

The commute through construction on I-5 was a nasty exercise Monday morning. The freeway and other roads were slick with rain; traffic at one point backed up from the construction zone 2.5 miles south to Albro Place. By 9:15 a.m. drivers were averaging 10 to 15 mph speeds through the work area, state officials said. They advised motorists to avoid I-5, but traffic volumes were building on some alternate routes.

Ridership on Metro buses and the Elliott Bay Water Taxi remained higher than usual but declined from Friday. South County buses were running eight to nine minutes late, and more people rode Sounder trains north to Seattle on Monday than on Friday. Because of heavier traffic on some roads, the buses rerouted from I-5 were shifted to Airport Way South on Monday.

"This is an issue of traffic, not ridership," Metro spokeswoman Linda Thielke said.

It took 20 to 30 minutes to get through the zone between Spokane Street and Interstate 90. There was more traffic on some alternative routes, including state Routes 509 and 599, and more traffic and slower speeds on Airport Way south of downtown, particularly near Royal Brougham Way and South Atlantic Street.